TEST
on national history
Formation of the Russian centralized state
Introduction
The Russian centralized state emerged in the 14th - 15th centuries. It was during this period that a natural stage in the development of society, located at the stage of developed and late feudalism, took place on the territory of modern Russia. This progressive stage is usually called centralization. The unification of lands and the formation of the Russian unified state occurred under the influence of a set of prerequisites, from which economic, socio-political and foreign policy can be distinguished. In Russia, socio-political and spiritual factors had a predominant influence, in contrast to the countries of Western Europe, where the unification was based on the development of commodity-money relations and the establishment of economic ties between individual regions. The process of centralization took place in three stages, as a result of which a single Russian state emerged, with a vast territory that united the center of Eastern Europe and its north. The territory was formed from multinational and numerous nationalities, united by a common historical memory and similar ideological and cultural structures in public life. The creation of a unified state contributed to the emergence of favorable conditions for the development of economic life, including ensuring equality of all Russian lands in trade and attracting specialists in all fields of science and crafts to Rus', and also made it possible to strengthen the country's defense capability and free itself from the Mongol-Tatar yoke.
Prerequisites, course and features of political centralization of Rus'
Socio-economic prerequisites.
Revival towards the end of the 14th century. economic potential of the Russian land, the spread of the three-field farming system, some revival of crafts and trade in the restored cities in the second half. XV century, “internal colonization” (i.e., the development of the forests of North-Eastern Rus' from the mid-XV century for arable land), a noticeable demographic rise in villages, the development of crafts in them become the basis of the country’s progress, hidden from a superficial glance, a prerequisite for its political consolidation. One of the main socio-economic factors of the unification was the growth of the boyar class and feudal land ownership in certain lands of North-Eastern Rus'. The main source of the spread of boyar estates was princely grants of land from peasants. But in conditions of political “dispersal” (by the beginning of the 14th century, there were more than ten independent principalities in the system of the Vladimir reign), there was an increasing shortage of arable land, which limited the development of the boyar class, and, consequently, undermined the strength of the prince, especially the military. The formation of a unified state was also facilitated by the development of local land ownership, which became widespread in the second half of the 15th century. largely due to the expansion of the area of arable land. The prince's servants, "freemen" and "servants under the court" (hence the later term - nobles) received land as a conditional holding, i.e. they could not freely dispose of it and owned it only under the terms of service. They supported the prince in his policies, hoping with his help to strengthen their position and gain new lands. The rapid growth in the number of serving nobility became the basis for strengthening the military potential of the Moscow Grand Dukes, the key to the success of their unification policy.
The princes, interested in strengthening their military forces, became cramped within the framework of small principalities. As a result, contradictions between the princes, supported by their boyar groups, intensified.
This led to a struggle to expand the possessions of one at the expense of the other. Thus, the rivalry between the Tver and Moscow principalities gradually emerged, the struggle between which largely predetermined the development of the process of unification of Rus'. The Great Principality of Vladimir, the significance of which was actually restored by the Tatars, was a ready-made institution of power for the future unified state. In addition, the prince, who owned the label for the great reign, had additional economic and military resources, and enjoyed authority that allowed him to subjugate the Russian lands. The Orthodox Church was also interested in unifying the lands. The desire to preserve and strengthen a single church organization, to eliminate the threat to its positions from both the West and the East (after the Horde adopted Islam as the state religion) - all this forced the church to support the unifying policy of the prince who would be able to unite Rus'.
Foreign policy prerequisites.
The main political prerequisite for the merger of fragmented lands was the urgent task of liberating the country from the Horde yoke. In addition, the confrontation between the North-Eastern principalities and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which also claimed to be the unifier of Russian lands, played a role.
Cultural and generally spiritual prerequisites facilitated future unification. In conditions of fragmentation, the Russian people maintained a common language, legal norms, and most importantly, the Orthodox faith. The developing common national identity, which began to manifest itself especially actively from the middle of the 15th century, relied on Orthodoxy. (After the fall of Constantinople, the center of Orthodoxy fell into the hands of the Turks, which caused a feeling of “spiritual loneliness” among the Russian people). Under these conditions, the desire for unity intensified, the desire to submit to the authority of the strongest prince, in whom they saw an intercessor before God, a defender of the land and the Orthodox faith. The mood of the people unusually raised the authority of the Grand Duke of Moscow, strengthened his power and made it possible to complete the creation of a unified state.
The first stage is the rise of Moscow and the beginning of unification.
At the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries. The political fragmentation of Rus' reached its apogee. In the Northeast alone, 14 principalities appeared, which continued to be divided into fiefs. By the beginning of the 14th century. The importance of new political centers increased: Tver, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, while many old cities fell into decay, never regaining their positions after the invasion. The Grand Duke of Vladimir, being the nominal head of the entire land, having received the label, practically remained the ruler only in his own principality and did not move to Vladimir. The grand reign provided a number of advantages: the prince who received it disposed of the lands that were part of the grand ducal domain and could distribute them to his servants; he controlled the collection of tribute, as the “eldest” represented Rus' in the Horde. Which ultimately raised the prince’s prestige and increased his power. That is why the princes of individual lands fought a fierce struggle for the label. The main contenders in the 14th century were the Tver, Moscow and Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod princes. In their confrontation, it was decided which way the unification of Russian lands would take place. At the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries. the predominant positions belonged to the Tver principality. After the death of Alexander Nevsky, the grand-ducal throne was taken by his younger brother, Prince Yaroslav of Tver (1263-1272). The favorable geographical position in the Upper Volga and fertile lands attracted the population here and contributed to the growth of the boyars. The Moscow principality, which went to the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, Daniil, became independent only in the 1270s. and, it seemed, did not have any prospects in competition with Tver. However, the founder of the dynasty of Moscow princes, Daniel, managed to make a number of land acquisitions (in 1301, take away Kolomna from Ryazan, and in 1302, annex the Pereyaslavl principality) and, thanks to prudence and frugality, somewhat strengthen the Moscow principality. His son Yuri (1303-1325) had already waged a decisive struggle for the label with Grand Duke Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver. In 1303, he managed to capture Mozhaisk, which allowed him to take control of the entire Moscow River basin. Having gained the trust of Uzbek Khan and married his sister Konchak, Yuri Danilovich in 1316 received a label taken from the Tver prince. In 1327, a spontaneous popular uprising broke out in Tver, caused by the actions of a Tatar detachment led by Baskak Chol Khan. The successor of Moscow Prince Yuri, Ivan Danilovich, nicknamed Kalita, took advantage of this (Kalita was the name given to a purse for money). At the head of the Moscow-Horde army, he suppressed the popular movement and devastated the Tver land. As a reward, he received a label for a great reign and did not miss it until his death. After the Tver uprising, the Horde finally abandoned the Baska system and transferred the collection of tribute to the hands of the Grand Duke. Collection of tribute, establishment of control over a number of neighboring territories (Uglich, Kostroma, northern Galich, etc.), and in connection with this - some expansion of land holdings, which attracted the boyars, ultimately strengthened the Moscow principality. Kalita himself acquired and encouraged the purchase by his boyars of villages in other principalities. This was contrary to the rules of law of that time, but strengthened the influence of Moscow and brought boyar families from other principalities under Kalita’s rule. In 1325, taking advantage of the quarrel between Metropolitan Peter and the Tver prince, Ivan managed to move the metropolitan see to Moscow. The authority and influence of Moscow also increased in connection with its transformation into the religious center of North-Eastern Rus'.
Historians explain in different ways the reasons for the transformation of Moscow from a seedy principality of North-Eastern Rus' into the strongest economically and military-politically. Some advantages lay in the geographical location: important trade routes passed through Moscow, it had relatively fertile lands that attracted the working population and boyars, and was protected from the attacks of individual Mongol detachments by forests. But similar conditions existed in Tver, which stood on the Volga and was even further from the Horde. Moscow was the spiritual center of Russian lands.
The main role was played by the policies of the Moscow princes and their personal qualities. Having relied on an alliance with the Horde and continued the line of Alexander Nevsky in this regard, realizing the role of the church in the conditions of the Horde’s departure from the policy of religious tolerance, the Moscow princes of the first half of the 14th century. used all means to achieve their goals. As a result, humiliating themselves before the khan and brutally suppressing anti-Horde protests, hoarding, enriching themselves and collecting Russian land bit by bit, they managed to elevate their principality and create conditions for both unifying the lands and entering into an open fight with the Horde. An important role was also played by the fact that as a result of the conciliatory policy of Kalita and his sons, the Moscow land did not know Mongol raids for several decades. The Moscow rulers, moreover, for a long time managed to maintain the unity of the princely house, which saved Moscow from the troubles of internal strife.
Second stage of unification.
If at the first stage Moscow only became the most significant and powerful economically, military-political principality, then at the second stage it turned into the undisputed center of both unification and the struggle for independence. The power of the Moscow prince increased, an active struggle against the Horde began, and the yoke gradually weakened. Kalita's grandson Dmitry Ivanovich (1359-1389) at the age of 9 found himself at the head of the Moscow principality. Taking advantage of his early childhood, the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod prince Dmitry Konstantinovich obtained a label from the Horde. But the Moscow boyars, rallying around Metropolitan Alexei, managed to return the great reign into the hands of their prince. His opponent was Lithuania, on which Tver relied. In 1375, Dmitry Ivanovich, at the head of a coalition of princes of North-Eastern Rus', attacked Tver, took away the label, which, as a result of intrigue, ended up in the hands of the Tver prince, and forced him to recognize vassal dependence on Moscow
Advance from the late 1350s. "Great trouble" in the Horde itself, expressed in frequent and violent changes of khans, in 1375 power was seized by the temnik Mamai, who, not being a Genghisid, had no legal rights to the "royal throne", gave an advantage to Dmitry Ivanovich, and he refused to pay tribute, under the pretext of the illegality of the reign of Khan Mamai. The decisive battle took place on the Kulikovo field on September 8, 1380.
Thanks to the patriotism and courage of Russian soldiers, united by a common faith and unified leadership, as well as the skillful actions of the ambush regiment at the decisive moment, which managed to turn the tide of the battle, a brilliant victory was won. The historical significance of the victory lay in the fact that Rus' was saved from ruin, which threatened to become no less terrible than Batyev’s. Moscow finally secured the role of a unifier, and its princes - the defenders of the Russian land. This first strategically important victory, which gave Dmitry the nickname “Donskoy,” made the Russian people believe in their strength and strengthened them in the correctness of their faith. It is important that detachments from various Russian lands acted at the hand of the Moscow prince. The Battle of Kulikovo has not yet brought liberation. In 1382, Khan Tokhtamysh, a Genghisid who led the Horde after the murder of Mamai, burned Moscow. Dmitry, having lost a lot of strength in the Battle of Kulikovo, left before the Horde arrived from the city in order to have time to recruit a new militia. As a result, Rus' resumed paying tribute, but political dependence on the Horde became much weaker. In his will, Dmitry Donskoy transferred to his son Vasily I (1389-1425) the right to a great reign, without referring to the will of the khan and without asking his permission. Under Vasily Dmitrievich, Moscow's positions continued to strengthen. In 1392 he managed to annex the Nizhny Novgorod principality. Some local princes moved into the category of service princes - servants of the Moscow prince, i.e. became governors and governors in counties that had previously been independent principalities. In the first quarter of the 15th century. the struggle for power was between representatives of one ruling house, Kalita. A conflict arose over the succession of power. Contrary to the will of Dmitry Donskoy in favor of his brother Yuri Galitsky, the throne, with the intervention of the Horde, passed to the grandson of Dmitry Donskoy, Vasily II. Yuri Galitsky, later and his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka fought against Vasily II. In 1446, Vasily II won the final victory. The end of the feudal wars made it possible to restore the economy of the Russian lands and continue centralization.
The third stage is the completion of the unification of Russian lands.
Grand Duke Ivan III (1462-1505) by 1468 completely subjugated the Yaroslavl principality, and in 1474 he liquidated the remnants of the independence of the Rostov principality. The annexation of Novgorod and its vast possessions took place more intensely. Of particular importance to the struggle with Novgorod was the fact that there was a clash between two types of state system - the veche-boyar and the monarchical, with a strong despotic tendency. Part of the Novgorod boyars, trying to preserve their liberties and privileges, entered into an alliance with Casimir IV, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the Polish king. Ivan III, having learned about the signing of an agreement in which Novgorod recognized Casimir as its prince, organized a campaign and defeated it in 1471 on the river. Sheloni Novgorod militia, and in 1478 he completely annexed it. Ivan III gradually evicted the boyars from the Novgorod land, transferring their possessions to Moscow service people. In 1485, Tver, surrounded by the troops of Ivan III and abandoned by its prince Mikhail Borisovich, forced to seek salvation in Lithuania, was included in the Moscow possessions. The annexation of Tver completed the formation of the territory of the state, which filled the title previously used by the Moscow prince - sovereign of all Rus' - with real content. As a result of the wars with Lithuania (1487-1494, 1500-1503) and the transfer of Russian Orthodox princes from Lithuania to Moscow service with their lands, the Grand Duke of Moscow managed to expand his possessions. Thus, the principalities located in the upper reaches of the Oka and the Chernigov-Seversky lands became part of the Moscow state. Under the son of Ivan III, Vasily III, Pskov (1510), Smolensk (1514), and in 1521 Ryazan were annexed. Thus, the basis of the third stage was the annexation of the remaining territories of North-Eastern and Northern Rus' to the Moscow Principality.
One of the main conquests of Rus' during the reign of Ivan III was the complete liberation from the Horde yoke. In 1480, the 240-year Horde yoke ended. The Horde broke up into a number of independent khanates, which the Russian state fought against throughout the 16th-18th centuries, gradually incorporating them into its composition. This is how the Russian centralized state arose.
Formation of the political system and social structure of the Russian state in the 15th century.
The main task of Ivan III and his heirs was “state building”: the transformation of the totality of former principalities, lands and cities into a single state. The rapid unification of territories with their own way of life and legal norms at a relatively low level of economic development and trade relations made the new power internally fragile, since the conditions were not yet ripe for the unity of numerous former appanages, cities and heterogeneous layers of noble and ignorant patrimonial owners and “free servants.”
The solution was found in the construction of a centralized administrative apparatus and the development of a conditional form of feudal land tenure, that is, a form of providing military and civil service that made the landowner directly dependent on the sovereign and the central authorities.
At the head of the state was the Grand Duke, the supreme owner of all lands. From the end of the 15th century. he began to call himself an autocrat. The Grand Duke had full legislative power. Advisory functions
under the prince, it was carried out by the Boyar Duma - a council, a permanent state body. The term “Duma” first appears in sources in 1517: 5 - 10 boyars and the same number of okolnichys acted as the sovereign’s closest advisers.
The basis for the formation of a new management system was the grand-ducal economy - the palace and the sovereign's court.
Gradually, all the feudal lords - from yesterday's Prince Rurikovich to the ordinary "son of a boyar" - moved to the position of direct "service people" of the Moscow Grand Duke.
At the head of the management of state affairs was the Palace, a body within which the Treasury was a major department. Over time, the Treasury became the main body for centralized financial management.
Along with the position of treasurer (head of the Treasury), other key positions of the state administration apparatus were identified: printer (keeper of the grand ducal seal), butler (head of the princely palace household). Auxiliary management functions were entrusted to clerks - people from the lower strata of feudal lords.
Governors and volostels were selected from the “court”, whom the Grand Duke placed at the head of new territorial units - counties, divided into volosts and camps.
A district was a territory that was dependent on a city. The district was the main administrative-territorial unit. The volost was a small administrative-territorial unit that arose on the basis of a peasant community. The volosts were governed by volostel-feeders. Governors and volostels exercised local government in cities and volosts. In the absence of a ready-made administrative apparatus, the governors came to work with their “court” - free servants and slaves. The local administration was in charge of tax collection and the courts. Remuneration was received directly from the population in the form of so-called “feed” (money, food). Hence the name of the governors and volostels - “feeders”. The activities of governors in such positions were regulated by special charters that determined the scope of powers and the amount of content. The governor held court in criminal and civil cases and collected fines and court fees (“judgment”) in his favor. But in order to avoid abuses, he had to judge only with the participation of local elected councilors and good people, and his decisions could be appealed in Moscow. The formation of a new political system was accompanied by significant changes in social relations. Former independent princes, former owners of their own lands, turned into service princes performing military service for the Grand Duke. The boyars of the once independent princes left their courts and went to serve the Grand Duke of all Rus'. Thus, the previous hierarchical structure of the ruling class was broken, a new layer of boyar children (small and medium-sized service landowners) was formed, which made up the court of the Grand Duke. Along with the old boyar aristocracy, new powerful families associated with the grand ducal court appeared. All of them (primarily the boyars' children), organized and united by territory, made up the Russian army. The formation of a new socio-political system of the state was accompanied by changes in the field of land relations. At the end of the 15th century. In the most developed lands of the Russian state, processes of redistribution of land holdings began. Along with the old patrimonial land ownership, conditional land ownership began to spread more and more - the estates of military and administrative servants of the Grand Duke. Unlike a patrimony, an estate could not be inherited, which forced the landowner to carry out many years of military service. It was these landowners who were directly subordinate to the head of state, conditional holders of the land, who began to play a significant role in the country.
In connection with the spread of the local form of land ownership, the issue of land became particularly acute. Despite the expansion of grand ducal land ownership at the expense of appanage lands, in general the fund of state and palace lands was very fragmented, scattered and partly plundered during the years of feudal wars. The government solved the problem of expanding state lands through confiscations in the newly annexed territories. So, after the annexation of Novgorod, the lands of the local boyars were confiscated and the service people of the Grand Duke from North-Eastern Rus' were placed on them. The Novgorod boyars were resettled to other lands, which weakened their economic power and old political ties. The confiscation of lands from the Tver boyars was carried out in a similar way. Large Russian feudal lords were not characterized by huge estates-latifundia, which would be located compactly within one territory. Service to the Grand Duke was rewarded with new land grants in different districts (sometimes in five or six). Moreover, the feudal lord could be the owner of both estates and estates. The scattered nature of land holdings across many districts strengthened the desire of the feudal lords to preserve a unified state and made them supporters of the grand ducal policy.
Relations between clans and appointments in the service were regulated by localism - an order that determined the appointment of members of service families to military and other government positions and placed one higher and the other lower by a certain number of “places”. The children, nephews and grandchildren of one boyar had to serve in such a relationship with the descendants of another in which their ancestors had once served. “Fatherly honor” depended on origin: it was accepted that “the sovereign rewards his service with estates and money, and not with the fatherland,” and this forced the Moscow princes to appoint people of “pedigree” to responsible positions.
On the other hand, localism was based on precedents (“cases”), and the clans that had served the Moscow princes for a long time and faithfully strengthened their positions. The inherited “fatherly honor” had to be constantly supported by service. The merits of both the ancestors and the applicant himself were taken into account, therefore the imposition of the grand-ducal punishment - disgrace - for fleeing the field. The formation of a new socio-political system of the state was accompanied by changes in the field of land relations. At the end of the 15th century. In the most developed lands of the Russian state, processes of redistribution of land holdings began. Along with the old patrimonial land ownership, conditional land ownership began to spread more and more - the estates of military and administrative servants of the Grand Duke. Unlike a patrimony, an estate could not be inherited, which forced the landowner to carry out many years of military service. It was these landowners who were directly subordinate to the head of state, conditional holders of the land, who began to play a significant role in the country.
The supreme judge in local disputes was the sovereign himself: “Whose clan is loved is the clan that rises.”
The centralization of the state required the development of uniform legislation for the entire country. Pre-existing legal documents - the so-called charters - regulated land relations and judicial disputes. But they reflected the local characteristics of governance in the former independent territories. The new conditions of the end of the 15th century, when a single state emerged, required the streamlining and unification of legal proceedings. It was these goals that were met by the creation under Ivan III in 1497 of a new Sudebnik - an all-Russian code of laws.
This document classified in detail the types of crimes, regulated the conduct of judicial duels, the norms of court fees and the procedure for issuing judicial acts. For the first time, the principle of questioning representatives of the local population under oath was introduced in the absence of indisputable evidence against the suspect; at the same time, the voices of feudal lords and other “good Christians” were equal. The Code of Law somewhat eased the position of serfs: now, according to the law, a serf who escaped from captivity or a person assigned to the city economy of a feudal lord was exempt from serf status. In relation to all privately owned peasants, the Code of Law established, instead of the various periods of peasant transfers from one owner to another that previously existed in different territories, a unified procedure and a single deadline for “exit”. It was possible to leave a week before and a week after Saint George's Day (November 26), subject to payment of an elderly fee (a fee in favor of the feudal lord) from 25 money to 1 ruble.
This was the first step towards attaching all privately owned peasants to the land. In everyday practice, Ivan III and his clerks systematically limited the judicial rights of large landowners when issuing letters of grant: the most serious crimes were removed from their jurisdiction - “murder, robbery and red-handed theft.”
The formation of a new army and administration, as well as an active foreign policy, required funds, so by the end of the 15th century. A new taxation system has emerged. Under Ivan III, the treasury of the sovereign received all the duties that previously went to the appanage princes of the Moscow house. Since the 60s of the 15th century. Scribe books began to be compiled - descriptions of arable land and peasant households for each district and each possession, on the basis of which direct land taxes were calculated: from a certain amount of land (plow), a certain amount was collected into the treasury, which was distributed among the communal peasants themselves.
The annexation of Novgorod, Tver, and Ryazan to Moscow was often accompanied by the “withdrawal” of the local nobility and the confiscation of their lands. In Novgorod alone, from 1475 to 1502, Ivan III took away from the boyars and the church about 1,000,000 dessiatines, on which Moscow natives were “settled,” including the lower servants of the “palace” and yesterday’s slaves.
In addition to the noble militia, under Ivan III, infantry armed with firearms appeared. In Moscow there was an Armory Chamber (arsenal) and a Cannon Yard, where guns perfect for that time were cast.
Period XIV - early XVI centuries. became the time of the formation of a single territory and the formation of the socio-political system of the Russian centralized state. Due to historical circumstances, the emerging Russian state was characterized by certain features. Strict centralization and weakening of democratic traditions that were established during the period of Ancient Rus'. This was facilitated by the long-term dependence of the Russian principalities on the Golden Horde. The priority of the state and statehood in the mentality of the Russian people. The state acquired during the struggle for independence was considered the main national asset and achievement. The corporatism of Russian society. Each person was associated with a specific corporate unit: a clan corporation of the nobility, a townsman community, a merchant hundred, a peasant or Cossack community. By the beginning of the 16th century. The Russian state had a single territory, an established system of governance, unified legislation and supreme power. At the same time, during the creation of a strong state, trends that differed from the European path of development emerged. This is the desire for further centralization, the elimination of centers of independence and independence, the absence of strong social strata in the person of the landed aristocracy and the trade and craft population of the cities, capable of stopping the excessive strengthening of the “autocracy” of the Moscow sovereigns, their desire for universal control over society and its unification.
centralization Russian land Moscow
Conclusion
At the turn of the XV - XVI centuries. The process of unification of Russian lands was completed. A Russian centralized state arose, owning a vast territory and including the center of Eastern Europe and its north. The state was formed as a multinational one, it included numerous nationalities. The creation of a unified state created favorable conditions for the development of economic life, made it possible to liberate Russian lands from the Mongol-Tatar yoke, and strengthen the country's defense capability. But the preservation of the remnants of the traditions of the period of feudal fragmentation put forward the task of searching for a new system of political structure of the state. The Russian state was made up of completely independent principalities, between which there was constant economic communication, which created the preconditions for the formation of an internal market and political unification. Ideological and cultural unity, as well as the need to fight external enemies such as the Golden Horde, Lithuania and Poland, influenced the unification of the principalities into a centralized state. It was the central government that could unite the capabilities of the entire Russian people and ensure their free independent development along their own historically and economically determined path.
Bibliography
1. Alekseev YUG. Under the banner of Moscow. M., 1992.
Zimin A.A. Russia at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: Essays on socio-political history. M., 1982.
Zimin A.A. Knight at a crossroads. Feudal war in Russia in the 15th century. M., 1991.
History of Russia from ancient times to 1861 (edited by N.I. Pavlenko) M., 1996.
Kobrin V.B. Power and property in medieval Russia in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. M., 1985.
Kuchkin V.I. Dmitry Donskoy // Questions of History, 1995, No. 5-6.
Sakharov A.M. Education and development of the Russian state in the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. M., 1969. Ch.1-3.
History of Russia: textbook, 2nd edition, Ekaterinburg: publishing house of the Ural State Economic University, 2006
Tutoring
Need help studying a topic?
Our specialists will advise or provide tutoring services on topics that interest you.
Submit your application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.
With the revival and further development of the economy, the political strengthening of Russian lands since the 14th century. tendencies towards their unification around Moscow began to appear (see Russian lands in the second half of the 13th-14th centuries). The core of the future vast and powerful state was the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which, thanks to a number of objective and subjective reasons (successful geographical location at the crossroads of water and land communications, distance from the Horde, far-sighted policy of the princes, influx of population from the south, etc.) came to the fore among other major political centers of North-Eastern Rus'. His rise was also facilitated by the transfer, even under Ivan Kalita, of the Metropolitan's residence to Moscow (see Moscow - the capital of Russia), the victory on the Kulikovo Field, won in 1380 under the leadership of the Moscow Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich (see The Horde Yoke and its Overthrow) .
And yet, by the 15th and even 16th centuries. The economic prerequisites for the creation of a unified state in Rus' have not yet been formed. Foreign trade of Novgorod and Pskov was oriented mainly to the west, and Moscow - to the south. Internal trade ties between the Russian principalities and lands were not sufficiently strong and regular. And in political terms, the veche system (see Veche) of the same Novgorod and Pskov clearly did not correspond to the Moscow despotic order. The Novgorod and Pskov boyars, along with the rich merchants, did not at all strive to find themselves under the rule of Moscow, as did the ruling elite of other centers, for example Tver or Vyatka.
Why did the unification of Russian lands still occur in the last third of the 15th - first quarter of the 16th century, i.e. much earlier than in Germany or Italy? Political circumstances played a decisive role in accelerating this process, and above all the factor of external danger from the other two largest state formations in Eastern Europe - the Golden Horde and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The first tried in every possible way to prevent the excessive strengthening of the Moscow principality and to keep Rus' in subjection, and the second, along with Moscow, laid claim to the role of a unifier of all Russian lands, and not just the territory of Western Rus'.
The unification around Moscow took place in difficult foreign policy conditions. Its final stage was preceded by a long feudal war within the Moscow principality itself. It was carried out in the second quarter of the 15th century. between the Moscow Grand Duke Vasily II the Dark (1425-1462), on the one hand, and his opponents, appanage princes Yuri Galitsky, Vasily Kosy and Dmitry Shemyaka, on the other. Blinded and expelled from Moscow more than once, Vasily II managed to win this fierce struggle for power and continue moving along the path to centralization. His name is also associated with the defeat of the Novgorod army in the battle of Staraya Russa in the winter of 1456. But after the Yazhelbitsky Peace Treaty signed with Moscow at that time, Novgorod retained the inviolability of its internal system, and part of the influential boyars adhered to the Lithuanian orientation, considering an alliance with Lithuania more acceptable than joining composition of Muscovy.
The last stage of the unification process occurred during the reign of the Moscow Grand Dukes Ivan III (1462-1505) and his son Vasily III (1505-1533). The first inherited an area of 430 square meters. km, which the second increased 6 times. The crushing defeat of the Novgorodians on the river. Sheloni in 1471 led to the liquidation of the Novgorod feudal republic in 1478. Several thousand of the most influential townspeople (boyars and wealthy merchants) were resettled from Novgorod to remote areas of Rus', and power in the city passed to the Grand Duke's governor and Moscow clerks. In approximately the same way, the annexation of Tver (1485) and Vyatka (1489) took place. In 1510, Pskov was finished, in 1514, as a result of the war with Lithuania, Smolensk went to Moscow, and in 1521, the Ryazan principality completely lost its independence. All segments of the population (local aristocracy, service people, merchants, artisans, peasants) became subjects of the Moscow Grand Duke.
The positive political, economic and cultural consequences of the creation of the Russian centralized state are undeniable. The united Rus' managed in 1480 to throw off the Horde yoke and strengthen its security. The international authority of Muscovy increased, its ruler Ivan III began to call himself “Sovereign of All Rus'.” Under him, a new coat of arms appeared - a double-headed eagle (see State Coat of Arms), a system of central bodies and localism arose, a local system of land ownership was formed, the privileges of the church were gradually limited, the first code of laws of a united Rus' was adopted - the Sudebnik of 1497 (see Legislation of feudal Russia ). Ivan III showed himself to be a talented statesman, diplomat and commander, although, like other medieval rulers, he showed cruelty and treachery.
But unlike a number of countries in Western Europe (England, the Netherlands, Italy), where at that time the sprouts of bourgeois relations were already emerging, and the peasants were freed from feudal dependence, in Rus' the unification coincided with the beginning of the legislative registration of serfdom, the restriction of peasant movements on St. George’s Day. And within the framework of the already united Russian state in the 16th century. There were many remnants of the previous period, traces of the previous autonomy: appanage principalities, privileges of the aristocracy and monasteries, the absence of a unified monetary, judicial, tax systems, strong economic ties, a branched structure of central and local administrative bodies, disordered relations between the authorities and the emerging estates of the feudal society of Russia ( This is how our state began to be called more and more often from the 16th century). Political unification far outpaced economic unification. It was necessary to go through a long and thorny path of strengthening and expanding state centralization, gradually eradicating the remnants of the past, the consequences of which continued to affect the development of the country for a long time.
Historians identify three main stages in the unification of lands around the Moscow Principality. (see appendix 2.)
1. The first stage of unification (the first half of the 14th century) is associated with the activities of the Moscow princes Daniil Alexandrovich (1276-1303) and Ivan Danilovich Kalita (1325-1340). Daniil Alexandrovich expanded the territory of his inheritance and achieved control over the Moscow River. In 1301 he occupied Kolomna. In 1302, he received the Pereyaslav inheritance according to his will. In 1303 Mozhaisk annexed Moscow. Under Yuri Danilovich (1303-1325), the Moscow principality became one of the most powerful in North-Eastern Rus', he was able to receive the label for a great reign. In 1325, Yuri was killed by the Tver prince Dmitry. The claims of the Tver princes become the main obstacle to the gathering of Russian lands around Moscow. Ivan Kalita managed to take Tver out of the political struggle. In 1328, he received a label for the Great Reign, achieved the abolition of the Baska system and took over the collection of Horde tribute from Rus'. As a result, Tatars did not appear in Rus' for 40 years, economic growth was ensured and economic conditions were created for unification and transition in the second half of the 14th century. to armed struggle against the Tatars. Ivan Danilovich acquired and annexed the Galician, Belozersk and Uglich principalities to Moscow.
2. The second stage of unification (second half of the 14th - first half of the 15th centuries) is associated with the activities of the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (1359-1389), his son Vasily I (1389-1425) and grandson Vasily II the Dark (1425-1462). At this time, there was an awareness of the need for unification, the creation of a strong unified state and the overthrow of the power of the Mongol-Tatar khans. The main success in the reign of Dmitry Ivanovich was the first major victory over the Tatars on the Kulikovo Field on September 8, 1380, which marked the beginning of the process of overthrowing the Tatar yoke. For this victory, Dmitry was named Donskoy. After the battle, Moscow was recognized as the center of the emerging unified state. The son of Dmitry Donskoy, Vasily I, managed to strengthen the position of Moscow as the center of Russian lands. He annexed the Nizhny Novgorod, Murom, Tarusa principalities, and some possessions of Veliky Novgorod. Further unification and liberation of the Russian lands was slowed down by the brutal princely civil strife of the second quarter of the 15th century, called the feudal war. The reason for it was a dynastic conflict between the princes of the Moscow house. After the death of Dmitry Donskoy's son Vasily I, his 9-year-old son Vasily and brother Yuri Dmitrievich became contenders for the throne. According to Donskoy's will, after the death of Vasily I, the throne was supposed to pass to Yuri Dmitrievich, but it was not specified what to do if Vasily had a son. The forces in the ensuing struggle were not equal: Yuri was known as a brave warrior, a builder of fortresses and temples, and the guardian of the 9-year-old boy was the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas. The death of Vytautas in 1430 freed Yuri's hands.
In 1433, he expelled Vasily from Moscow and took the grand-ducal throne. However, the Moscow boyars supported the young prince, and Yuri was forced to leave Moscow. The fight was continued by his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka. The princes did not disdain the most barbaric means: first Vasily Kosoy was blinded, and then Vasily Vasilyevich (who later received the nickname “Dark” - blind). The church and the Moscow boyars supported the Moscow prince. In 1447, Vasily the Dark entered Moscow. The feudal war lasted until 1453 and cost the country dearly: burned villages, hundreds of killed supporters of Shemyaka and Vasily the Dark, increased dependence of the Moscow principality on the Horde. The feudal war confirmed the need to unite the Russian lands, showing the danger of new princely strife. Subsequently, Vasily II significantly strengthened the grand ducal power. Moscow's influence in Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, Ryazan and other lands increased. Vasily II also subjugated the Russian church, and after the fall of Constantinople under the blows of the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Grand Duke began to play a decisive role in choosing the metropolitan. In subsequent years, Dmitrov, Kostroma, Starodub, the Nizhny Novgorod principality and other lands were annexed to Moscow. In fact, the foundations of a unified Russian state were laid.
3. The third stage of unification (second half of the 15th - first quarter of the 16th centuries), associated with the activities of Grand Duke Ivan III (1462-1505) and his son Vasily III (1505-1533), completed the process of creating a unified Russian state. Ivan III annexed the Yaroslavl and Rostov principalities. The fight against Novgorod was more difficult for him. In July 1471, a battle took place on the Shelon River between the troops of the Moscow prince and the Novgorodians, which ended in the complete defeat of the latter. Novgorod was finally included in the Moscow Principality in January 1478. After the fall of Novgorod, the struggle for the annexation of the Tver principality began.
Since 1476, Ivan III did not send tribute to the Horde, as a result of which Khan Akhmat decided to punish Moscow and in 1480 launched a campaign against it. At the beginning of October 1480, Moscow and Tatar troops converged on the banks of the Ugra River (a tributary of the Oka River). Khan Akhmat's ally, the Lithuanian prince Casimir, did not appear; after the snow appeared, the cavalry became impossible to use and the Tatars left. Khan Akhmat died in the Horde, and the “stand on the Ugra” ended in victory for the Russian troops.
In September 1485, Moscow troops approached Tver, Tver Prince Mikhail fled, and the Tver lands became part of the Moscow state. From that moment on, Ivan III began to call himself the sovereign of all Rus'. In the new state, specific remnants coexisted with national institutions. The Grand Duke was forced to put up with the fact that the princes retained their power locally. But gradually the power of the sovereign became autocratic. The Boyar Duma was an advisory body. The number of Moscow boyars included princes of early independent principalities.
The central state apparatus had not yet taken shape, but its two highest bodies - the Palace and the Treasury - already existed. Administratively, the country was divided into counties, camps, and volosts, headed by governors and volostels. In 1497, the Code of Laws was the first code of laws of a unified state.
In 1472, Ivan III married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine I. The fall of Byzantium and the twinning with the ancient Palaiologan dynasty gave grounds for the Moscow sovereigns to proclaim themselves successors to the Byzantine Empire. At the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. a well-known theory appears about Moscow as the successor of Constantinople - the “second Rome”. Moscow is proclaimed the “third Rome” - the capital of the Orthodox world. Ivan III takes upon himself the title “By the grace of God, Sovereign of all Rus',” adding a long list of his princely possessions. The concepts of “tsar” and “autocrat” appear for the first time. The coat of arms - a double-headed eagle - was borrowed from Byzantium.
Vasily III continued his father's work. He completed the unification of the country. In 1510 he annexed Pskov to Moscow, in 1514 Smolensk, in 1517 the Ryazan principality, in 1523 the Chernigov-Seversk land.
Chronology
- 1276 - 1303 Reign of Daniil Alexandrovich. Formation of the Moscow Principality.
- 1325 - 1340 The reign of Ivan Danilovich Kalita.
- 1462 - 1505 The reign of Ivan III Vasilyevich.
- 1480 “Standing” on the Ugra River, liberation of Russian lands from the Golden Horde yoke.
The Rise of Moscow
The rulers of the principalities that entered into rivalry with Moscow, not possessing sufficient forces of their own, were forced to seek support from the Horde or Lithuania. Therefore, the struggle of the Moscow princes against them acquired the character of an integral part of the national liberation struggle and received the support of both the influential church and the population interested in the state unification of the country.
Since the late 60s. XIV century A long struggle began between the Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich (1359 - 1389) and the creative prince Mikhail Alexandrovich, who entered into an alliance with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd.
By the time of the reign of Dmitry Ivanovich, the Golden Horde had entered a period of weakening and protracted strife between the feudal nobility. Relations between the Horde and the Russian principalities became increasingly tense. At the end of the 70s. Mamai came to power in the Horde, who, having stopped the beginning of the disintegration of the Horde, began preparations for the campaign against Rus'. The struggle to overthrow the yoke and ensure security from external aggression became the most important condition for the completion of the state-political unification of Rus', begun by Moscow.
In the summer of 1380, having gathered almost all the forces of the Horde, which also included detachments of mercenaries from the Genoese colonies in the Crimea and the Horde’s vassal peoples of the North Caucasus and Volga region, Mamai advanced to the southern borders of the Ryazan principality, where he began to wait for the approach of the troops of the Lithuanian prince Jagiello and Oleg Ryazansky. The terrible threat hanging over Russia raised the entire Russian people to fight the invaders. In a short time, regiments and militias from peasants and artisans from almost all Russian lands and principalities gathered in Moscow.
On September 8, 1380 the Battle of Kulikovo took place- one of the largest battles of the Middle Ages, which decided the fate of states and peoples
Battle of Kulikovo
This battle showed the power and strength of Moscow as a political and economic center - the organizer of the struggle to overthrow the Golden Horde yoke and unify the Russian lands. Thanks to the Battle of Kulikovo, the size of the tribute was reduced. The Horde finally recognized the political supremacy of Moscow among the rest of the Russian lands. For personal courage in battle and military leadership, Dmitry received the nickname Donskoy.
Before his death, Dmitry Donskoy transferred the great reign of Vladimir to his son Vasily I (1389 - 1425), no longer asking for the right to a label in the Horde.
Completion of the unification of Russian lands
At the end of the 14th century. In the Moscow principality, several appanage estates were formed that belonged to the sons of Dmitry Donskoy. After the death of Vasily I in 1425, the struggle for the grand-ducal throne began with his son Vasily II and Yuri (the youngest son of Dmitry Donskoy), and after the death of Yuri, his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka began. It was a real medieval struggle for the throne, when blinding, poisoning, conspiracies and deceptions were used (blinded by his opponents, Vasily II was nicknamed the Dark). In fact, this was the largest clash between supporters and opponents of centralization. As a result, according to the figurative expression of V.O. Klyuchevsky “under the noise of appanage princely quarrels and Tatar pogroms, society supported Vasily the Dark.” The completion of the process of unifying the Russian lands around Moscow into a centralized state occurred during the reign of
Ivan III (1462 - 1505) and Vasily III (1505 - 1533).
For 150 years before Ivan III, the collection of Russian lands and the concentration of power in the hands of the Moscow princes took place. Under Ivan III, the Grand Duke rises above the other princes not only in the amount of strength and possessions, but also in the amount of power. It is no coincidence that the new title “sovereign” appears. The double-headed eagle becomes a symbol of the state when, in 1472, Ivan III marries the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Sophia Paleologus. After the annexation of Tver, Ivan III received the honorary title “By the grace of God, the Sovereign of All Rus', Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow, Novgorod and Pskov, and Tver, and Yugra, and Perm, and Bulgaria, and other lands.”
The princes in the annexed lands became boyars of the Moscow sovereign. These principalities were now called districts and were governed by governors from Moscow. Localism is the right to occupy a particular position in the state, depending on the nobility and official position of the ancestors, their services to the Moscow Grand Duke.
A centralized control apparatus began to take shape. The Boyar Duma consisted of 5-12 boyars and no more than 12 okolnichy (boyars and okolnichy are the two highest ranks in the state). In addition to the Moscow boyars from the middle of the 15th century. Local princes from the annexed lands also sat in the Duma, recognizing the seniority of Moscow. The Boyar Duma had advisory functions on “the affairs of the land.” With the increase in the function of public administration, the need arose to create special institutions that would manage military, judicial, and financial affairs. Therefore, “tables” were created, controlled by clerks, which were later transformed into orders. The order system was a typical manifestation of the feudal organization of government. It was based on the principles of inseparability of judicial and administrative powers. In order to centralize and unify the procedure for judicial and administrative activities throughout the entire state, under Ivan III in 1497 the Code of Laws was compiled.
It was finally overthrown in 1480. This happened after a clash between Moscow and Mongol-Tatar troops on the Ugra River.
Formation of the Russian centralized state
At the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. Chernigov-Seversky lands became part of the Russian state. In 1510, the Pskov land was also included in the state. In 1514, the ancient Russian city of Smolensk became part of the Moscow Grand Duchy. And finally, in 1521, the Ryazan principality also ceased to exist. It was during this period that the unification of the Russian lands was largely completed. A huge power was formed - one of the largest states in Europe. Within the framework of this state, the Russian people were united. This is a natural process of historical development. From the end of the 15th century. The term “Russia” began to be used.
Socio-economic development in the XIV - XVI centuries.
The general trend in the socio-economic development of the country during this period is intensive growth of feudal land ownership. Its main, dominant form was patrimony, land that belonged to the feudal lord by right of hereditary use. This land could be exchanged and sold, but only to relatives and other owners of estates. The owner of the estate could be a prince, a boyar, or a monastery.
Nobles, Those who left the court of a prince or boyar owned an estate, which they received on the condition of serving on the estate (from the word “estate” the nobles were also called landowners). The service period was established by the contract.
In the 16th century The feudal-serf system is being strengthened. The economic basis of serfdom is feudal ownership of land in its three types: local, patrimonial and state. A new term “peasants” appears, which has become the name of the oppressed class of Russian society. According to their social status, peasants were divided into three groups: proprietary peasants belonged to various secular and ecclesiastical feudal lords; palace peasants who were in the possession of the palace department of the Moscow Grand Dukes (Tsars); Black-sown (later state) peasants lived in volost communities on lands that did not belong to any owner, but were obliged to perform certain duties in favor of the state.
The defeat of old, large cities, such as Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov, etc., the change in the nature of economic and trade relations and routes led to the fact that in the XIII - XV centuries. New centers received significant development: Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Kolomna, Kostroma, etc. In these cities, the population increased, stone construction was revived, and the number of artisans and merchants grew. Such branches of craft as blacksmithing, foundry, metalworking, and coining have achieved great success.
Back in the 12th century. In the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, a tendency towards unification of lands under the rule of one prince appeared. Over time, the population of Rus' began to look at the Vladimir princes as the defenders of the entire Russian land.
At the end of the 13th century. The Horde entered a protracted crisis. Then the activity of the Russian princes intensified. It manifested itself in the collection of Russian lands. The gathering of Russian lands ended with the creation of a new state. It was called “Muscovy”, “Russian State”, the scientific name is “Russian Centralized State”.
The formation of the Russian centralized state took place in several stages:
- The rise of Moscow - the end of the 13th - beginning of the 11th centuries;
- Moscow is the center of the fight against the Mongol-Tatars (second half of the 11th - first half of the 15th centuries);
- Completion of the unification of Russian lands around Moscow under Ivan III and Vasily III - the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries.
Stage 1. The rise of Moscow (late XIII - early XIV centuries). By the end of the 13th century. the old cities of Rostov, Suzdal, Vladimir are losing their former importance. The new cities of Moscow and Tver are rising.
The rise of Tver began after the death of Alexander Nevsky (1263), when his brother, Prince Yaroslav of Tver, received from the Tatars a label for the Great Reign of Vladimir. During the last decades of the 13th century. Tver acts as a political center and organizer of the struggle against Lithuania and the Tatars. In 1304, Mikhail Yaroslavovich became the Grand Duke of Vladimir, who was the first to accept the title of Grand Duke of “All Rus'” and tried to subjugate the most important political centers: Novgorod, Kostroma, Pereyaslavl, Nizhny Novgorod. But this desire encountered strong resistance from other principalities, and above all from Moscow.
The beginning of the rise of Moscow is associated with the name of the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky - Daniel (1276 - 1303)
. Alexander Nevsky distributed honorary inheritances to his eldest sons, and Daniil, as the youngest, inherited the small village of Moscow and its surrounding area on the far border of the Vladimir-Suzdal land. Daniel had no prospects of taking the grand-ducal throne, so he took up farming - he rebuilt Moscow, started crafts, and developed agriculture. It so happened that in three years the territory of Daniel’s possession increased three times: in 1300 he took Kolomna from the Ryazan prince, in 1302 the childless Pereyaslavl prince bequeathed his inheritance to him. Moscow became a principality. During the reign of Daniel, the Moscow principality became the strongest, and Daniel, thanks to his creative policy, the most authoritative prince in the entire Northeast. Daniil of Moscow also became the founder of the Moscow princely dynasty. In Moscow, Daniel built a monastery and named it in honor of his heavenly patron Danilovsky. According to the tradition that has developed in Rus', sensing the approach of the end, Daniel took monasticism and was laid to rest in the Danilovsky Monastery. Currently, the St. Daniel Monastery plays a significant role in the life of the Orthodox and is the residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II.
After Daniel, his son began to rule in Moscow Yuri (1303 - 1325)
. The Grand Duke of Vladimir at this time was Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy. He owned the Vladimir throne “in truth” - the ancient right of inheritance established by Yaroslav the Wise in the 11th century. Mikhail Tverskoy was like an epic hero: strong, brave, true to his word, noble. He enjoyed the full favor of the khan. Real power in Rus' left the hands of the descendants of A. Nevsky.
Yuri Danilovich - the grandson of Alexander Nevsky - did not have any rights to the first throne in Rus'. But he had one of the most powerful principalities in Rus' - Moscow. And Yuri Danilovich entered into the struggle for the Vladimir throne with the Tver prince.
A long and stubborn struggle began for the title of Grand Duke in Rus' between the descendants of Alexander Nevsky - Danilovichi- and the descendants of Nevsky’s younger brother Yaroslav - Yaroslavich, between Moscow princes and Tver. Ultimately, the Moscow princes became the winners in this struggle. Why was this possible?
By this time, the Moscow princes had already been vassals of the Mongol khans for half a century. The khans strictly controlled the activities of the Russian princes, using cunning, bribery, and betrayal. Over time, the Russian princes began to adopt behavioral stereotypes from the Mongol khans. And the Moscow princes turned out to be the more “capable” students of the Mongols.
Yuri Moskovsky married the khan's sister. Not wanting the strengthening of one prince, the khan also granted the label for the Great Reign to his relative Yuri. Not wanting clashes with Moscow, Mikhail Yaroslavich Tverskoy renounced the great reign in favor of Yuri Danilovich. But the Moscow army constantly devastated the lands of the Tver principality. During one of these clashes, Yuri's wife, Princess Agafya (Konchaka), was captured by the Tverites. She died in captivity.
Yuri Danilovich and Mikhail Yaroslavich were summoned to the Horde. In the Horde of Tver, the prince was accused of non-payment of tribute, the death of the khan's sister, and was killed. The label for the Great Reign was transferred to the Moscow prince.
In 1325, at the khan's headquarters, Yuri Danilovich was killed by the eldest son of Mikhail Yaroslavich, Dmitry. Dmitry, by order of the khan, was executed, but the label for the Great Reign was transferred to the next son of Mikhail Yaroslavich, Alexander Mikhailovich. Together with Alexander Mikhailovich, the Tatar detachment of Cholkan was sent to Tver to collect tribute.
And in Moscow, after Yuri’s death, his brother began to rule Ivan Danilovich by nickname Kalita, Ivan I (1325 - 1340). In 1327, an uprising took place in Tver against the Tatar detachment, during which Cholkan was killed. Ivan Kalita went against the people of Tver with an army and suppressed the uprising. In gratitude, in 1327 the Tatars gave him a label for the Great Reign.
The Moscow princes will no longer let go of the label for a great reign..
Kalita achieved the collection of tribute in Rus' instead of the Mongols. He had the opportunity to hide part of the tribute and use it to strengthen the Moscow principality. Collecting tribute, Kalita began to regularly travel around Russian lands and gradually form an alliance of Russian princes. Cunning, wise, cautious Kalita tried to maintain the closest ties with the Horde: he regularly paid tribute, regularly traveled to the Horde with generous gifts to the khans, their wives, and children. With generous gifts, Kalita endeared himself to everyone in the Horde. The Hanshi were looking forward to his arrival: Kalita always brought silver. In the Horde. Kalita constantly asked for something: labels for individual cities, entire reigns, the heads of his opponents. And Kalita invariably got what he wanted in the Horde.
Thanks to the prudent policy of Ivan Kalita, the Moscow principality constantly expanded, grew stronger and did not know Tatar raids for 40 years.
Ivan Kalita sought to ensure that Moscow, and not Vladimir, became a religious center. He built comfortable chambers for the head of the Russian Church - the Metropolitan. Metropolitan Peter loved to stay in Moscow for a long time: Kalita received him cordially and made generous gifts to the Church. Metropolitan Peter predicted that if Kalita builds a cathedral in Moscow in honor of the Mother of God, as in Vladimir, and rests him in it, then Moscow will become the true capital. Ivan Kalita built the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow (as in Vladimir) and laid to rest the head of the Russian Church in it. For the Russians, this was a sign from God, a sign of Moscow’s chosenness. The next metropolitan, Theognostus, finally moved from Vladimir to Moscow. This was a great achievement for Ivan Kalita.
Moscow has become the religious center of Russian lands.
But historians believe that the main merit of Ivan Kalita was the following. During the time of Ivan Kalita, crowds of refugees from the Horde and Lithuania poured into Moscow due to persecution for religious reasons. Kalita began to accept everyone into his service. The selection of service people was made solely on the basis of business qualities, subject to acceptance of the Orthodox faith. Everyone who converted to Orthodoxy became Russian. A definition began to emerge: “Orthodox means Russian.”
Under Ivan Kalita, the principle of ethnic tolerance was established, the foundations of which were laid by his grandfather, Alexander Nevsky. And this principle in the future became one of the most important on which the Russian Empire was built.
Stage 2. Moscow - the center of the fight against the Mongol-Tatars (second half of the 14th - first half of the 15th centuries). The strengthening of Moscow continued under the children of Ivan Kalita - Simeone Proud(1340-1353) and Ivan II the Red(1353-1359). This would inevitably lead to a clash with the Tatars.
The clash occurred during the reign of Ivan Kalita’s grandson Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (1359-1389)
. Dmitry Ivanovich received the throne at the age of 9 after the death of his father Ivan II the Red. Under the young prince, the position of Moscow, as the first principality in Rus', was shaken. But the young prince was supported by the powerful Moscow boyars and the head of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Alexei. The Metropolitan understood that if Moscow lost the label for the great reign, then its many years of efforts to collect Russian lands would be nullified.
The Metropolitan was able to obtain from the khans that the great reign would henceforth be transferred only to the princes of the Moscow princely house. This increased the authority of the Moscow principality among other Russian principalities. The authority of Moscow increased even more after 17-year-old Dmitry Ivanovich built the Kremlin in Moscow from white stone (stone was a rare building material in Moscow. The Kremlin wall made of stone so captured the imagination of contemporaries that from that time the expression “White stone Moscow” arose. ). The Moscow Kremlin became the only stone fortress in the entire Russian Northeast. He became unapproachable.
In the middle of the 14th century. The Horde entered a period of feudal fragmentation. Independent hordes began to emerge from the Golden Horde. They waged a fierce struggle for power among themselves. All khans demanded tribute and obedience from Rus'. Tensions arose in relations between Russia and the Horde.
In 1380, the Horde ruler Mamai with a huge army moved towards Moscow.
Moscow began to organize resistance to the Tatars. In a short time, regiments and squads from all Russian lands, except those hostile to Moscow, came under the banner of Dmitry Ivanovich.
And yet, it was not easy for Dmitry Ivanovich to decide on an open armed uprising against the Tatars.
Dmitry Ivanovich went for advice to the rector of the Trinity Monastery near Moscow, Father Sergius of Radonezh. Father Sergius was the most authoritative person both in the Church and in Rus'. During his lifetime, he was called a saint; it was believed that he had the gift of foresight. Sergius of Radonezh predicted victory for the Moscow prince. This instilled confidence in both Dmitry Ivanovich and the entire Russian army.
September 8, 1380 
at the confluence of the Nepryadva River with the Don took place Battle of Kulikovo. Dmitry Ivanovich and the governors showed military talent, the Russian army - unbending courage. The Tatar army was defeated.
The Mongol-Tatar yoke was not thrown off, but the significance of the Battle of Kulikovo in Russian history is enormous:
- on the Kulikovo field, the Horde suffered its first major defeat from the Russians;
- after the Battle of Kulikovo, the size of the tribute was significantly reduced;
- The Horde finally recognized the primacy of Moscow among all Russian cities;
- the inhabitants of Russian lands began to feel a sense of common historical destiny; according to historian L.N. Gumilyov, “residents of different lands walked to the Kulikovo field - they returned from the battle as the Russian people.”
Contemporaries called the Battle of Kulikovo "Mamaev's Massacre", and Dmitry Ivanovich during the time of Ivan the Terrible received the honorary nickname "Donskoy".
Stage 3. Completion of the formation of the Russian centralized state (end of the 10th - beginning of the 16th centuries). The unification of Russian lands was completed under the great-grandson of Dmitry Donskoy Ivan III (1462 - 1505) And Basil III (1505 - 1533). 
Ivan III annexed the entire North-East of Rus' to Moscow: in 1463 - the Yaroslavl principality, in 1474 - the Rostov principality. After several campaigns in 1478, the independence of Novgorod was finally eliminated.
Under Ivan III, one of the most important events in Russian history took place - the Mongol-Tatar yoke was thrown off. In 1476, Rus' refused to pay tribute. Then Khan Akhmat decided to punish Rus'. He entered into an alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian king Casimir and set out on a campaign against Moscow with a large army.
In 1480, the troops of Ivan III and Khan Akhmat met along the banks of the Ugra River (a tributary of the Oka). Akhmat did not dare to cross to the other side. Ivan III took a wait-and-see attitude. Help for the Tatars did not come from Casimir. Both sides understood that the battle was pointless. The power of the Tatars dried up, and Rus' was already different. And Khan Akhmat led his troops back to the steppe.
The Mongol-Tatar yoke ended.
After the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the unification of Russian lands continued at an accelerated pace. In 1485, the independence of the Tver principality was eliminated. During the reign of Vasily III, Pskov (1510) and the Ryazan principality (1521) were annexed. The unification of Russian lands was basically completed. 
Features of the formation of the Russian centralized state:
- the state developed in the northeastern and northwestern lands of the former Kievan Rus; its southern and southwestern lands were part of Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary. Ivan III immediately put forward the task of returning all Russian lands that were previously part of Kievan Rus;
- the formation of the state took place in a very short time, which was due to the presence of external danger in the form of the Golden Horde; the internal structure of the state was “raw”; the state could at any moment disintegrate into separate principalities;
- the creation of the state took place on a feudal basis; a feudal society began to form in Russia: serfdom, estates, etc.; in Western Europe, the formation of states took place on a capitalist basis, and bourgeois society began to form there.
The victories of Ivan III strengthened the Russian state and contributed to the growth of its international authority. Western European countries and, first of all, the Roman Curia and the German Emperor are trying to conclude an alliance with the new state. The ties of the Russian state with Venice, Naples, Genoa are expanding, and relations with Denmark are intensifying. Rus''s ties with the countries of the East are also strengthening. All this indicates that the Russian state is becoming the strongest and playing a significant role in international affairs.
The specifics of the formation of a unified Russian state in the 15th - early years. XVI centuries The unification of Russian lands and the final liberation from the Tatar yoke and general socio-economic changes occurring in the country led to the establishment of autocracy and created the preconditions for the transformation of the great Moscow reign into an estate-representative monarchy.
The supreme ruler of the state was the Moscow prince. He was the supreme owner of the land and had full judicial and executive power. Under the prince there was Boyar Duma, which included the most notable feudal lords and clergy. The metropolitan and Consecrated Cathedral - meeting of the highest clergy. National bodies appeared - Castle
And Coffers
. The butlers were in charge of the personal lands of the Grand Duke, sorted out land disputes, and judged the population. The treasury was in charge of state finances. The formation of central government bodies began - orders. The palace order was in charge of the Grand Duke's own possessions, the ambassadorial order was in charge of external relations, the discharge order was in charge of military affairs, etc. Clerks and clerks were engaged in office work.
Under Ivan III, local government remained conservative. As before, it was based on the feeding system - one of the sources of enrichment for the upper classes at the expense of the population. "Feeders", i.e. governors and volostels (governors of volosts) were supported by the local population - literally fed. Their powers were varied: rulers, judges, collectors of princely taxes. Princes, boyars, and former “free servants” of the Grand Duke had the right to receive feedings.
The institute was important localism, according to the system of which all boyar families were distributed along the steps of the hierarchical ladder, and all their appointments (military and civilian) had to correspond to their birth.
For the first time after Yaroslav the Wise, Ivan III began to streamline legislation. In 1497, a new collection of laws was published - Code of Law. The new collection of laws established a unified procedure for judicial and administrative activities. Laws on land use, especially the law on St. George's Day, occupied an important place in the Code of Laws. In Rus' there was an old custom: in the fall, after harvesting, peasants could move from one owner to another. By the beginning of the 16th century. this custom took on the character of a disaster: the peasants left their master even before the harvest, and often the fields remained unharvested. The Code of Law of Ivan III limited the right of peasants to transfer from one owner to another to two weeks a year - before and after St. George's Day (November 26).
The formation of serfdom began in Rus'. Serfdom- this is the dependence of the peasant on the feudal lord in personal, land, property, legal relations, based on their attachment to the land.
This was still the period when they ruled in the old way, having all gathered together in agreement - conciliarly: all authoritative forces were involved in solving the most important issues of the country - the Grand Duke himself, the Boyar Duma, the clergy. The Grand Duke was a strong and respected figure, but the attitude towards him was “simple”; in the eyes of the Russians he was only the eldest among equals.
Under Ivan III, important changes took place in the system of government: the process of establishing an unlimited monarchy began.
The reasons for the formation of an unlimited monarchy are Mongol and Byzantine influence.
Mongolian influence - by this time, the Mongol-Tatar yoke had lasted in Rus' for more than 200 years. Russian princes began to adopt the style of behavior of the Mongol khans, the model of the political structure of the Horde. In the Horde, the khan was an unlimited ruler.
Byzantine influence - the second marriage of Ivan III was married to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Sophia Paleologus. In 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell under the blows of the Ottoman Turks. The emperor died on the streets of Constantinople defending the city. His niece Sophia found refuge with the Pope, who later had the idea to marry her to the widowed Russian ruler. The Byzantine princess brought the idea of absolute monarchy to distant Rus'.
Ivan III was the first of the Russian princes to pursue a policy of increasing the power of the Grand Duke. Before this, appanage princes and boyars were free servants. At their own request, they could serve the Moscow Grand Duke or go to serve in Lithuania and Poland. Now they began to swear allegiance to the Moscow prince and sign special oaths. From now on, the transfer of a boyar or prince to the service of another sovereign began to be considered as treason, a crime against the state. Ivan III was the first to take the title "Sovereign of All Rus'". IN 1497 Ivan III for the first time, as the coat of arms of the Moscow state, adopted the unofficial coat of arms of Byzantium - the double-headed eagle - a sacred religious symbol (By this time, the double-headed eagle in Byzantium symbolized the unity of spiritual and secular power). Under him, signs of grand-princely dignity were adopted: the “Monomakh cap”, which became a symbol of autocracy, precious mantles - barmas and a scepter. Under the influence of Sophia, a magnificent court ceremony according to the Byzantine model was introduced at the court of Ivan III.
Ideology of the times of Ivan III and Vasily III. At the end of the 15th century. A number of important events took place in Russian statehood:
- the unification of Russian lands was basically completed;
- in 1480, the Russian lands were freed from the Mongol-Tatar yoke;
- Ivan III, in the Byzantine manner, began to call himself the title “Tsar”.
The historical process in Rus' was led by the Moscow princes. The Moscow princes rose rapidly. According to the ancient right of inheritance, they did not have the right to the first throne in Rus'. “In truth,” the Tver princes should have owned the first throne. The Moscow princes, using a whole range of political means, “wrested” the right to all-Russian primacy from the Tver princes.
And now the moment had come when the Moscow princes needed to prove to everyone by what right they owned the Russian land.
In addition, Ivan III needed to establish himself among Western European monarchs. The Russian state appeared at the beginning of the 16th century. suddenly for Western Europe. Large Western European states had already taken shape, the system of relationships between them had also already taken shape, the most important trade routes were already occupied.
To survive in these conditions, the huge Moscow state needed ideas, ideology, which would reflect the dominant position in Rus' of the Moscow princes, the antiquity of the state, the truth of the Orthodox faith, the importance and necessity of the existence of Muscovy among other states. Such ideas appeared at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries.
Three ideas became the most important.
1. The idea of succession of power of the Moscow princes from the princes of Vladimir and Kyiv.
Chronicles appeared in which it was stated that the Moscow princes received power over the Russian land from their ancestors - the Vladimir and Kyiv princes. After all, the head of the Russian Church - the Metropolitan - lived first in Kyiv, then in Vladimir (1299 - 1328) and Moscow (from 1328). Therefore, the Russian land was owned by the Kyiv, Vladimir, and then Moscow princes. This idea also emphasized the idea that the source of grand-ducal power is the will of the Lord himself. The Grand Duke is the deputy of the Lord - God on earth. The Lord God gave the Grand Duke the control of the Russian land. Therefore, the Russian sovereign bore personal responsibility before the Lord - God for the way he ruled the Russian land. Since it was handed over by the Lord himself - God, the Orthodox sovereign should not share his power (responsibility) with anyone. Any refusal of power is sacrilege.
2. The idea of kinship between Russian princes and Roman emperors.
At this time, “The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir” appears. The "Tale" is based on two legends. One contained a statement that the family of Russian princes was connected with the king of “the whole universe” Augustus. In Rome from 27 BC. e. Octavian ruled. He managed to unite under his rule all the territories of the inhabited world. After this, the Roman state began to be called an empire, and Octavian was given the title "Augusta", i.e. "divine". The Tale said that Augustus had a younger brother named Prus. Augustus sent Prus as ruler to the banks of the Vistula and Neman (This is how Prussia arose). And Prus had a descendant, Rurik. It was this Rurik that the Novgorodians called to reign in Novgorod (It should be noted that almost all Western European monarchs tried to connect their ancestry with the Roman emperors). Another legend said that in the 12th century. The heir to the Roman emperors, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomakh, handed over to his grandson - the Kiev prince Vladimir Monomakh - symbols of imperial power: a cross, a crown (in Rus' they began to call Monomakh's cap), the cup of Emperor Augustus and other objects. It followed that the Russian rulers (Monomashichi) had the legal right to the title “Caesar” (in Rus', king).
3. The idea of Moscow as the custodian of the true Christian faith.
This idea is better known as “Moscow - the third Rome”. This idea was formulated by the monk of the Pskov Eleazar Monastery Philotheus in his letters to Vasily III in 1510-1511. Monk Philotheus was sure that Moscow was called upon to play a special role in history. After all, it is the capital of the last state where the true Christian faith has been preserved in its original, unspoiled form. At first, Rome preserved the purity of the Christian faith. But the apostates muddied the pure source, and as punishment for this, in 476 Rome fell under the blows of the barbarians. Rome was replaced by Constantinople, but even there they abandoned the true faith, agreeing to a union with the Catholic Church. By the middle of the 15th century. The Byzantine Empire perished under the blows of the Ottoman Turks. Hoping for help from Western European powers, the Patriarch of Constantinople signed a union with the Pope in Florence in 1439. Under the terms of the union, the Orthodox recognized the supremacy of the Pope, and not the Orthodox Patriarch, and switched to Catholic dogmas during worship, but Orthodox rituals were preserved. Before this, the power of the Patriarch of Constantinople had universal significance. It extended to Byzantium, Rus', Serbia, Georgia, and Bulgaria. The conclusion of a union with the Pope meant that the Greeks abandoned the universal mission of guardians of the Orthodox tradition, which they had undertaken. The Russian Orthodox Church did not recognize the union and broke off relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Philotheus wrote that for apostasy from Orthodoxy - the true Christian faith - ancient Constantinople was captured by the Turks. Since then, Moscow, the capital of the largest Orthodox state, has become the center of world Orthodoxy, the “third Rome”. “Watch and listen, for two Romes have fallen, and the third (Moscow) stands, but the fourth will not exist,” wrote Philotheus. Therefore, the role of Rus' in world history is to be the patroness of all Orthodox peoples.
TO THE BEGINNING OF THE TOPIC
Control questions
- What stages can be identified in the formation of the Russian centralized state?
- Which Russian principalities fought among themselves for all-Russian primacy in the first half of the 14th century?
- Indicate what are the results of Ivan Kalita’s activities for the Principality of Moscow?
- When did the Battle of Kulikovo take place and what is its significance?
- Indicate the features of the formation of the Russian centralized state.
- What were the bodies of power and administration in the Moscow state at the beginning of the 16th century?
additional literature
- Borisov N.S. Ivan III. - M.: Mol. Guard, 2000.
- Sinitsyna N.V. Third Rome. Origins and evolution of the Russian medieval concept. /XV - XVI centuries/- M.: Publishing House "Indrik", 1998.
- Cherepnin L.V. Formation of the Russian centralized state in the XIV - XV centuries. essays on the socio-economic and political history of Rus'. - M., 1960.